The time for Eden's Rise

Ambitions and dreams are strange creatures. I have so many, but my biggest problem up until now has been that I am afraid of actually going forward with my ambitions. Maybe I read too many books about magic and fantasy when I was young and I am permanently experiencing cognitive dissonance because real life is not magical. My great fantasies about my perfect home, perfect garden, and perfect job are best kept as dreams because to accomplish them would likely mean being disappointed by a reality that isn’t as fantastic as my imagination. Don’t get discouraged! I’m making a change!

Working at minimum wage as a server at weddings is unsurprisingly unfulfilling when you really want to be growing fruit and making wine and raising animals and to be blissfully married with no kids, two dogs, and a highly affectionate cat. So I left the city, got a good job in a greenhouse working long hours and having no social life and squirrelled away some savings for nearly a year.

Along with this, I happen to be blessed with family that has a one acre lot of land that has gone unused in over seven years. Lucky for me- they are happy to let me use it to create my own orchard/amazing fairy tale garden! I won’t get too ahead of myself, but if garden gnomes do exist, I know they’ll be visiting.

Right now the land is still empty. I’ve spent the winter shopping in magazines for amazing hardy fruit trees, vines, and shrubs to plant in my orchard. I’ve mapped out where they are going and bought all the necessary materials for their introduction. The trees should be delivered during April, that’s when the adventure really begins.

There are going to be some problems along the way. For one, the land is heavy clay and quite boggy. The field is difficult to access from the road making transportation of materials quite tricky. It also happens to be surrounded by a forest which has a healthy population of deer, squirrels, raccoons, and other adorable woodland creatures that could put an end to my tree’s lives before bud break.

Every problem has potential solutions, but in the end the only thing to do is try, see what works, and maybe try again next year based on what has been learned. I’ve been dreaming since the fall- expectations are high.

 “What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does.” – J.K. Rowling (Hagrid), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.